Book Review: The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott
Elen’s story continues and finishes in a land of lost magic, royal intrigue and much more
@Princejvstin has our review at the NOAF blog
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2025/10/book-review-nameless-land-by-kate.html
bookstodon
I’ve written a few thoughts on Penance by Eliza Clark, 2023, a disturbing look at the grizzly world of True Crime #bookstodon #BookReview #reading #Storygraph #audiobook @bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/da51ecd6-c05b-438d-9f55-dde1c2b36c13
"[You] must begin a reading program immediately ... Begin with the late Romans, including Boethius, of course. Then you should dip rather extensively into early Medieval. You may skip the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. That is mostly dangerous propaganda. Now that I think of it, you had better skip the Romantics and the Victorians, too. For the contemporary period, you should study some selected comic books."
My first read of the year is a reread of the cringe comedy classic by #JohnKennedyToole , with the bloviating Ignatius Reilly and the beautifully constructed farce of vivid characters revolving around him. One of my favourite final paragraphs too, ending the silliness and chaos on a surprisingly moving note. @bookstodon #Bookstodon
Even though you may have missed the beginning of advent, it is still possible to catch up.
Christmas in Norway, 2025 is a slim tome of 24 texts, one for each day of December until Christmas Eve, when preparations cease and the day is celebrated with gifts, good food, and (above all) good company.
Details and links: https://norwegianfolktales.net/books/Christmas-in-Norway-2025
#Christmas2025 #Advent #Scandinavia #Norway #Folktales #Legends #Bookstodon #eBook
Question of the Day: How many books are you currently in the middle of reading? #bookstodon
Looking for a new ebook? My novel THE EXPERT OF SUBTLE REVISIONS is on sale now! Just 1.99, wherever you buy ebooks.
"In this 'appealing intellectual mystery' (Publishers Weekly) spanning continents, Hase knows exactly what to do when her dad goes missing: Go to the library, find a specific book, and follow instructions. 'Brilliant, uplifting… I was swept away' (New York Times bestselling author Janet Skeslien Charles)."
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon
@bookstodon A medical emergency leaves the passengers of the Scampering Pete fending for themselves! They face pirates, mechanical issues, and more in Death In Transit!
Available on Amazon and more!
#Scifi #Adventure #Bookstodon #ActionAdventure #eBook
I couldn't resist doing some analysis of ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.
How much more likely were people to vote for books because they had read them in recent memory (recency bias)? You would expect that good books are spread out evenly across the years, but it's hard to remember books that you read many years ago! Turns out there was an even spread of books across 2000-2019. But there were 40% more books than expected from 2020-2024. (See first graph.)
Were newer books more likely to be lower down the list? I thought this might be lkely because votes for recently read books might spread out more. But that wasn't completely true. The bottom 40 of the list did lean new, but so did the top 20. (See second graph.)
How diverse were the authors on the list? Not very! Only 22 of the books were by authors with diverse backgrounds, by which I mean non-white or not hetero-normative. The top 20 were the least diverse, but it was pretty even across the range. Probably not surprising - people might connect most strongly with books that speak to their own experience. Would be fascinating to see more demographic info on the voters.
Most books were by authors from Australia (35), the USA (31), the UK (17) and Ireland (7). Ireland seemed to punch above its weight. New Zealand only had one author! (Heather Morris, The Tattooist of Auschwitz).
There were very few non-fiction books, especially if you exclude memoirs and true crime. I count 4: Dark Emu, Stasiland, Sapiens and A Short History of Nearly Everything. And yet non-fiction accounts for something like 40% of book sales. I wonder if that is because a non-fiction book tends to focus on a particular subject, which would have less widespread appeal. It could also be that the type of people who vote in this sort of poll are book nerds, and book nerds mostly read fiction.
As a keen #fantasy & #scifi reader, I was disappointed. Project Hail Mary is the only full-blown scifi, but I wouldn't say it is a good representation of the genre. There is Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but both are young adult. The others (Cloud Atlas, Station Eleven, Piranesi, Never Let Me Go) feel borderline (I've not read the last two).
How did the list compare with my own ratings? I've read 57 of the 100 books, and I did rate higher books better, but the relationship was very weak. (See third graph.)
Highest ranked book that I didn't really like: #12. Where The Crawdads Sing. (Runner up The Dry.)
Lowest ranked book that I really liked: #86. Cloud Atlas
Highest ranked book I'd never heard of: #9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
I've got 43 books to catch up on in the next few years, plus the favourites as voted by my friends. Never short a good book!
Edited 1y ago
My contribution to the #1925Club this week is a post on the wonderful Love by Elizabeth von Arnim, which had a lot to say about double standards in society and the pressures on women as they age #bookstodon #BookReview #audiobook @kaggsy59
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/3589831a-2956-408e-a6dc-19397cf94635
"It takes an entire lifetime to unravel the mysteries of our own lives. Layer upon layer of knowledge accumulates upon the past, revealing it anew each time as a past that we certainly lived through, but couldn't even begin to understand."
Jenny Erpenbeck, "Homesick for Sadness," in her memoir 'Not a Novel'
#SundaySentence cluster @bookstodon #reading #bookstodon #identity #memory
FREE SHORT STORY! Saving Alan Idle, a story about a sentient computer program that previously appeared in Escape Pod. https://youtu.be/A7mEXacgd08?si=qwUY33Y2veBcgaTW
#bookstodon #scifi #shortstory @books @Books@mstdn.social @bookstodon
Looking for more spicy audiobooks for spooky season? 🎃
My Wife The Witch is another Size Fantasy I narrated for Amber Collins.
A naughty witch shrinks her husband to fit the dollhouse where she keeps four enchanted, doll-sized girlfriends — and then keeps shrinking!
This story goes hard, harder than most of my catalogue, so I will put content warnings in the next post in the thread.
If you like erotica with witches, magic, and a degree of peril, this might be for you!
Get yourself in the Halloween spirit with this spicy story. 😉
Available in audiobook format on Amazon, Audible an Apple Books. Also available in ebook format on Amazon.
1/n
#NSFW #Audioook #Audioobooks #Books #Bookstodon #Halloween #Erotica #SizeFantasy #Shrinking #Magic #Witch #Halloween
Edited 1y ago
Five stars:
A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation, Volume 4 by Misaki, Momochi and Sando (2020) focuses mostly on Eleven and his attempts to join Liz and Gil's party.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_03/gentle_nobles_vacation_recommendation_4.html
Launching November 3! Get the audiobook and a special edition hardcover! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/villyard/immortal-gifts-hardcover-paperback-and-audiobook
#bookstodon #kickstarter #vampirebooks @books @Books@mstdn.social @bookstodon
Book Review: EC Comics Library: Weird Science Vol. 1 (Taschen)
The Rolls-Royce Collection of Era-Defining Sci-Fi Comics
NOAF co-founder @scifiromance has our review at the blog:
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2025/10/book-review-ec-comics-library-weird.html
Four stars:
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill (2025) is a fantasy novella with a similar vibe to the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. Nesi, a failed acolyte has one last chance to find her calling, if she can convince T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks to take her on as his apprentice.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/comments_10/audition_for_the_fox.html
“You seem very unconcerned about this.“
“Man, I was not raised in the woods by Bolsheviks.“
“Are you a capitalist?“
“You should have asked me if I'm a fellow traveler before you kissed me, don't you think?“ Sam said, smirking.
“But?“
“I'm a librarian.“
“Is that a political affiliation?“
Sam considered this. “Near enough.“
#AmReading Old Time Religion by E.H. Lupton @pretensesoup
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
finished reading A Court of Thorns and Roses 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
by Sarah Maas.
My first foray into #romantasy. The plot is so-so (humans vs faeries, love & intrigue) but finishes strongly. The romance is weak - it's never clear why she loves the faerie lord, except for his sexy man-beastiness. Hopefully this is not the best the genre has to offer.
Here comes another spicy audiobook for spooky season! 🎃
The Mirror by Amber Collins is a red-hot story of erotic revenge!
When Nick and Katy inherit a haunted mirror, they can make their biggest wishes come true. But will they go too far to humiliate the hot couple that torments them?
If you have ever wanted to put a bully in their place, this story is for you.
Content advisory follows in the next post!
Get yourself in the Halloween spirit with this spicy story. 💋
Available in audiobook format on Amazon, Audible an Apple Books. Also available in ebook format on Amazon.
1/n
#NSFW #Audioook #Audioobooks #Books #Bookstodon #Halloween #Erotica #SizeFantasy #Shrinking #Magic #Witch #Halloween
Edited 1y ago
It's almost the end of the month & you know what that means!
It's a great time to support your fave indie artists, writers, musicians and creators by boosting us, buying from us, subscribing to our newsletters, reviewing our work, leaving a tip, etc.
Your support lets us keep making art for you. Thank you! 💕
PS If you are an Audible member and you have credits leftover at the end of the month, why not treat yourself to an audiobook narrated by yours truly? 💋
You can find my audiobooks (and all my links) here:
https://adaraastin.ck.page/87de3a4c9f
* Boosts appreciated *
Edited 1y ago
I have three spooky audiobooks for you for a spicy Halloween trick-or-treat! 🎃
The Cauldron is about a witch who runs a rare book store (and eats people to achieve immortal youth). It's fun, light, campy, and sexy.
https://geni.us/TheCauldron
My Wife, The Witch is about a witch who turns the tables on her too-large husband by shrinking him and dominating him in the night of his wildest dreams and nightmares.
https://geni.us/MWTW
The Mirror is about a couple who inherit an enchanted antique that transforms their lives and lets them seek revenge on their bullies (in a spicy way).
https://geni.us/TMir
All three books are available as audiobooks (narrated by yours truly) on Amazon, Audible and Apple Books, and also available on Amazon as Kindle ebooks.
Go on, get yourself a Halloween treat! 💋
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #NSFW #Audiobook #Audiobooks #Audiofiction #Books #Bookstodon #Erotica #Macrophilia #Witches #Magic #SizeFantasy #GiantWoman #Giantess #TinyMan #GroupSex
Five stars:
Natural Barn Killer by Amanda Flower and Rachel Dulude (2025) is the fifth Farm to Table mystery. It's Thanksgiving and Shiloh Bellamy is hosting a meal at the farm house. After the meal she finds her chickens standing on an exposed femur, sticking out of the dirt mound by their recently moved coop.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/comments_11/natural_barn_killer.html
I read a scary book and now I can't sleep. Turns out I have not changed much since I was 10! #bookstodon #BookMastodon
Joking is serious business... 😁
@reading @bookstodon @books @humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop
#Interpretation #Author
#ReadingMemes #Memes #ReadAllTheBooks #Humor #Humour #Comedy
#Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Book #Books #Novel #Novels #Fiction
#Bookwyrm #Bookworm #Bookstodon #BookLove
Look who has come knocking for Halloween...
Fascinating and most informative, this detailed and deeply researched biography draws on previously unavailable correspondence to present a fuller picture of the life of Edgar Allan Poe.
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2025/10/31/book-review-edgar-allan-poe-a-life/
#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #EdgarAllanPoe #EAPoe #Biography #Literature #Goth #Gothic #Horror #Halloween @bookstodon